Easter reminds me of something better than tolerance; I was loved to death.

A sunrise Easter service at Jefferson Memorial Gardens in Trussville last year centered around three huge wooden crosses that have been in place for 40 years. (Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com)

The political firestorm around Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, coming this close to Easter, is hanging heavy on my mind.

As a Christian, I know the Bible speaks to any number of critical topics that shape the trajectory of my life. I value my religious liberties and believe they must be protected. At the same time, I can't escape this sinking feeling that politics, convenience and more than a little resistance to other perspectives has muddled the central redemptive message of my faith.

Easter brings all that back into focus.

A radical Jewish teacher despised by the religious establishment stood before false accusers and politicians. The proceedings against him were not just; it was a lynch mob. They mocked him. They beat him. They spit in his face.

He did not become angry. He did not vehemently defend his religious liberties. He did not go down swinging a sword. In fact, with little regard for himself, he stood and calmly answered. He knew it meant his death, a cruel death on a cross.

But that was the point.

His singular objective was to show just how much he loved broken, fallen people riddled with sin and pain. He even asked God to forgive those who drove the nails through his hands and feet.

Jesus did far more than tolerate those who despised him. He loved each one of us to death...literally.

In a world where tolerance isn't even the norm, that's hard to comprehend. Why would anyone do something like that?

Because you can't fake it. You can't be a phony about love when it costs you your life.

Ask the soldiers whose lives were saved by the one who dove on the grenade. Talk to the child whose mother chose her over life-saving chemotherapy.

They know real, powerful love.

I'm tired of hearing what Christians like me believe. I'm as guilty as the next. Words are cheap. I want to see it, and I know our world needs it.

AL.com Opinion

That's Jesus's powerful example this Easter. It does not change the nature of sin or require you to endorse it. Jesus sacrificed himself as a redemptive act of love because we couldn't save ourselves. We still can't.

This is not simply about an Indiana pizza parlor or who bakes the wedding cake for a gay couple.

For Christians, this should be about how we respond to a broken hurting world. Will we respond to those who hate us by telling them what we believe or will we show them real love inspired by the One who first loved us to death?